‘Archaeology Of Putnam Park’ Lecture By Dan Cruson

BROOKFIELD — On Wednesday, June 21, Dan Cruson will present a program on the archaeology of Putnam Park at Brookfield Historical Society’s museum, at the corner of Routes 25 and 133. The program will begin at 7:30 pm.

For the past two fall seasons, Mr Cruson of Newtown and his students have been conducting archaeological digs at Putnam Park in bethel. His findings have revealed an amazing array of artifacts and features of the area, which served as a winter encampment for the Continental Army of the Revolutionary War. Excavation included what was believed to be a cemetery from that time.

Besides showing what he and his teams found, Mr Cruson will explain the methodology of an archaeologist and explain the detective work used to get artifacts and interpret features found at a site.

Using what has been buried for 220 years, Mr Cruson will give insight into the life of the Revolutionary. Using food remains, he will show how historians have been able to reconstruct a diet of the period as well as using the scatter of these food remains to determine the location of hut walls.

Mr Cruson is on the faculty of the Joel Barlow High School, where he teaches courses in anthropology and local history. His abiding interest in these fields has led him to do extensive research and writing on the history of the towns of central Fairfield County including Easton, Redding, and Newtown, as well as conducting several archeological investigations in these towns in an attempt to learn more about the lifestyles of their past citizens, both historic and prehistoric.His attempts to acquire more information about the early history and culture of this area have also led him to investigate deeply the subjects of rural slavery, vintage photography, early Connecticut architecture, colonial and post-colonial road building, and early cemeteries and their grave markers.

For more information call Bob Brown, president of Brookfield Historical Society, at 775-4719.